Pedal adjustment system and method

Abstract

System and method for adjusting at least one pedal for a driver in a vehicle in which a determining system determines one or more morphological characteristics of the driver, a motor is coupled to the pedal(s) and is at least automatically controllable without manual intervention to move the pedal(s) relative to a floor of the vehicle and thus adjust the position of the pedal(s) relative to the driver, and a control circuit is coupled to the determining system and the motor for automatically controlling the motor based on the determined morphological characteristic(s) of the driver. The pedal may be an accelerator pedal and/or a brake pedal of the vehicle.

1. An apparatus for adjusting at least one pedal for a driver sitting in a driver seat in a vehicle, comprising
 a determining system arranged to determine at least one morphological characteristic of the driver and generate a signal indicative of the determined at least one morphological characteristic; 
 a motor coupled to the at least one pedal; and 
 a control circuit coupled to said motor and which controls said motor to move the at least one pedal relative to a floor of the vehicle and thus adjust the position of the at least one pedal relative to the driver, 
 said control circuit being further coupled to said determining system and receiving the signal indicative of the determined at least one morphological characteristic from said determining system and automatically controlling said motor to move the at least one pedal based on the determined at least one morphological characteristic of the driver, 
 said motor being further manually controllable to move the at least one pedal. 
 
   
   
     2. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one pedal comprises an accelerator pedal and/or a brake pedal of the vehicle. 
   
   
     3. The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a location determining system arranged to determine a location of the driver, said control circuit being further coupled to said location determining system and arranged to automatically control said motor based on the determined location of the driver. 
   
   
     4. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said determining system comprises a weight measuring system associated with the driver seat and that measures the weight applied onto the driver seat and generates an output representative of the measured weight applied onto the seat, the output being the signal indicative of the determined at least one morphological characteristic, further comprising:
 at least one wave sensor system that receives waves from an area above the driver seat of the vehicle and generates an output representative of the waves received by said at least one wave sensor system; and 
 said control circuit comprises a processor that
 received the outputs from said at least one wave sensor and said weight measuring system; 
 evaluates the seated-state of the seat based thereon to determine whether the seat is occupied by an object and when the seat is occupied by an object, to identify or ascertain the identity of the object in the seat based on the outputs from said at least one wave sensor system and said weight measuring system; and 
 based at least on the identification or identity of the object in the seat, directs said motor to move the at least one pedal. 
 
 
   
   
     5. The apparatus of  claim 4 , further comprising a transmitter arranged to transmit waves into a passenger compartment of the vehicle toward the seat. 
   
   
     6. The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein said processor comprises a microcomputer having computer-readable media into which a function correlating the outputs from said at least one wave sensor system and said weight measuring system and the seated-state of the seat is incorporated. 
   
   
     7. The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein said processor comprises a neural network which generates a function correlating the outputs from said at least one wave sensor system and said weight measuring system and the seated-state of the seat and executes the function using the outputs from said at least one wave sensor system and said weight measuring system as input to determine the seated-state of the seat. 
   
   
     8. The apparatus of  claim 4 , further comprising a seat track position detecting sensor that determines a position of a seat track of the seat and generates an output representative of the position of the seat track of the seat, said processor being arranged to receive the outputs from said at least one wave sensor system, said weight measuring system and said seat track position detecting sensor and evaluate the seated-state of the seat based thereon. 
   
   
     9. The apparatus of  claim 4 , further comprising a reclining angle detecting sensor that determines a reclining angle of the seat back and generates an output representative of the reclining angle of the seat back, said processor being arranged to receive the outputs from said at least one wave sensor system, said weight measuring system and said reclining angle detecting sensor and evaluate the seated-state of the seat based thereon. 
   
   
     10. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said determining system comprises:
 a first measurement system that measures a first morphological characteristic of the driver and generates a first signal based on said first measured morphological characteristic; and 
 a second measurement system that measures a second morphological characteristic of the driver different than said first morphological characteristic and generates a second signal based on said second measured morphological characteristic, the apparatus further comprising 
 a processor that receives the first and second signals based on said first and second measured morphological characteristics and determines an optimum position of the at least one pedal based on said first and second measured morphological characteristics, said processor providing a control signal to said motor to move the at least one pedal to the optimum position. 
 
   
   
     11. The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the first and second morphological characteristics are each selected from a group consisting of the weight of the occupant, the height of the occupant from a bottom of the seat, the length of the occupant's arms, and the length of the occupant's legs. 
   
   
     12. A method for adjusting at least one pedal for a driver sitting in a driver seat in a vehicle, comprising:
 coupling a motor to the at least one pedal which moves the at least one pedal forward and rearward relative to the driver; 
 determining at least one morphological characteristic of the driver which can be related to the driver's ability to reach the at least one pedal and generating a signal indicative of the determined at least one morphological characteristic; 
 automatically controlling the motor to move the at least one pedal relative to a floor of the vehicle and thus adjust the position of the at least one pedal relative to the driver, the step of automatically controlling the motor comprising receiving, at a processor, the signal indicative of the determined at least one morphological characteristic and then automatically controlling, using the processor, the motor based on the determined at least one morphological characteristic of the driver, and 
 enabling manual control of the motor to thereby enable the driver to manually control movement of the at least one pedal. 
 
   
   
     13. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the at least one pedal comprises an accelerator pedal and/or a brake pedal of the vehicle. 
   
   
     14. The method of  claim 12 , further comprising detecting a change in occupancy of the seat and determining the at least one morphological characteristic only when a change in the occupancy of the seat is detected. 
   
   
     15. The method of  claim 12 , further comprising determining a location of the driver on the seat, the step of automatically controlling the motor further comprising automatically controlling the motor based on the determined location of the driver. 
   
   
     16. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the step of determining at least one morphological characteristic of the driver comprises measuring the weight applied onto the driver seat and generating an output representative of the measured weight applied onto the driver seat, the method further comprising:
 receiving waves from an area of the driver seat of the vehicle and generating an output representative of the received waves; and 
 evaluating the seated-state of the scat based on the outputs representative of the received waves and the measured weight applied onto the seat, said step of evaluating the seated-state of the seat comprising determining whether the seat is occupied by an object based on the outputs representative of the received waves and measured weight applied onto the seat, and when the seat is occupied by an object, identifying or ascertaining the identity of the object in the seat based on the outputs representative of the received waves and measured weight applied onto the seat, 
 the motor being controlled automatically based on the identification or identity of the object. 
 
   
   
     17. The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 determining a position of a seat track of the seat and generating an output representative of the position of the seat track of the seat; and 
 evaluating the seated-state of the seat based on the outputs representative of the received waves, the measured weight and the determined position of the seat track. 
 
   
   
     18. The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 determining a reclining angle of the seat and generating an output representative of the reclined angle of the seat; and 
 evaluating the seated-state of the seat based on the outputs representative of the received waves, the measured weight and the determined reclining angle of the seat. 
 
   
   
     19. The method of  claim 12 , further comprising selecting the at least one morphological characteristics from a group consisting of the weight of the occupant, the height of the occupant from a bottom of the seat, the length of the occupant's arms, and the length of the occupant's legs. 
   
   
     20. An apparatus for adjusting at least one pedal for a driver occupying a driver seat in a vehicle, comprising:
 a measuring system arranged above the driver seat to measure the height of the driver from the driver seat in the vehicle and generate a signal indicative of the measured height of the driver; 
 a motor coupled to the at least one pedal and arranged to move the at least one pedal forward and rearward relative to the driver seat; and 
 a processor coupled to said measuring system and arranged to receive the signal indicative of the measured height of the driver, determine a position of the at least one pedal based on the measured height of the driver and automatically control said motor to move the at least one pedal to the determined position of the at least one pedal when the determined position is different than the actual position, 
 said motor being further manually controllable to move the at least one pedal. 
 
   
   
     21. An apparatus for adjusting a component of a vehicle dependent on morphology of a driver which interacts with the component, comprising:
 a determining system arranged to determine at least one morphological characteristic of the driver and generate a signal indicative of the determined at least one morphological characteristic; 
 a motor coupled to the component; 
 a control circuit coupled to said motor and that controls said motor to adjust the position of the component relative to the vehicle, said control circuit being further coupled to said determining system to receive the signal indicative of the determined at least one morphological characteristic from said determining system and automatically control said motor to adjust the component based on the determined at least one morphological characteristic, said motor being further manually controllable to move the component from the automatically adjusted position to a manually adjusted position; and 
 a memory that stores the manually adjusted position in association with the determined at least one morphological characteristic, said control circuit being coupled to said memory and arranged to automatically control said motor to adjust the component to the manually adjusted position in said memory upon a subsequent and same determination of the at least one morphological characteristic, 
 the component being selected from a group consisting of a seat on which the driver sits, a pedal which the driver's foot presses and a steering wheel which is grasped by the driver.